In “Fractured Spaces: Deconstructing Photo Narratives from Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan,” West Virginia University Reed College of Media Shott Chair of Journalism Lois Raimondo will discuss her work as a photojournalist and how her photos invite the viewers to enter the frame and recognize some piece of themselves within the safe space her lens has found.
On Tuesday, April 12, Raimondo will discuss her work as a photojournalist as part of the David C. Hardesty Jr. Festival of Ideas and the Nath Lecture Series. This free public event will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Milano Room of WVU’s Downtown Campus Library.
Raimondo has collected and curated some of her most powerful photographs in “Fractured Spaces,” which is currently on display in the Downtown Campus Library. The photographs provide a glimpse into four different communities disrupted and displaced by war�or political conflict.�
The�work includes�documentary�reportage from Afghanistan’s�Ramadan Offensive, the streets of Iraq in the days following the U.S.-led coalition�invasion, a safe house�”jail” for endangered women in Pakistan, and a community of 90,000 Tibetan�exiles�living in Dharamsala, India.�Raimondo headed to Afghanistan two�weeks�after the Sept. 11 attacks and spent three months crossing the mountains with the Northern Alliance Army during the Ramadan Offensive. In 2005, she spent a year working on stories about honor crimes in Pakistan.�She will recount stories behind these photos in her lecture.
About Raimondo
A professional journalist and photojournalist, Lois Raimondo specializes in conflict and human rights stories. She lived and worked in Asia full time for 12 years, including four years spent as chief photographer for The Associated Press in Hanoi, Vietnam. As one of the first American reporters into North Vietnam after the Vietnam War, she reported on every aspect of the emerging new-economy society. Raimondo also smuggled in over the Himalayan Mountains midwinter to report on Tibet and Indian Kashmir. Before joining the College of Media, she spent 10 years as a staff photographer at The Washington Post. Her photographic work has appeared in such publications as National Geographic, The New York Times, Smithsonian magazine, Newsweek and Time.
Raimondo has split her time between writing and photographing story.�Her 1998 investigative series�for�New York’s Newsday�on corruption in the�New York�City Mitchell-Lama housing project was a runner-up for the�Pulitzer Prize�in investigative reporting.
About the Nath Lecture Series
The Nath Lecture is an annual series that has�occurred�each year since 1994. It is sponsored by the Honors College and is funded through an endowment by Dr. Joginder Nath, a WVU professor and chair emeritus in the Genetics and Developmental Biology Program, and Dr. Charlotte Nath, a WVU professor emeritus in the Department of Family Medicine. The Nath Lecture highlights an outstanding WVU faculty member.�Joginder Nath’s generosity is spread throughout the University and Morgantown communities. In 2008, Nath made a significant contribution to the�Art Museum of�WVU�creating�a sculpture garden�and courtyard area that is named in his honor. The Joginder Nath Sculpture Garden and Courtyard will feature an outdoor exhibit area. And in 2013, Nath�provided funding�for the construction of the�Art Museum of WVU.�
Nath also serves as member of the�WVU�Davis College’s and the�WVU Eye Institute’s�Comprehensive Campaign committees, assisting with helping to raise funds for the A State of Minds: The Campaign for West Virginia’s University and as a volunteer with the Friends of the Art Museum of�WVU. He has also donated to local arts projects and hospitals in the region.
About Festival of Ideas
The David C. Hardesty Jr. Festival of Ideas was created in 1995 by former�WVU�president David C. Hardesty Jr. and is produced by�University Events. It was inspired by events he organized as�WVU’s student body president in the 1960s. Today, the lecture series spans the academic year and engages a diverse group of newsmakers, public figures, thought leaders and�WVU’s own superstars.
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CONTACT: Alexandra McConnell-Trivelli, Senior Special Events Coordinator
304.293.8024,�amcconn1@mail.wvu.edu
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